Greg Sterling

Posts by Greg Sterling

March 19, 2019

Survey: 60% Not That Into Chatbots but 40% Really Like Them

There are numerous consumer surveys about chatbots that argue people prefer interacting with them for certain tasks. Others come out the opposite way. The reality is somewhere in-between and fairly well captured in new survey data from Uberall. The survey of roughly 1,000 US adults asked about their level of interest in interacting with bots from “major brands”: 40% were…

Contributed by: Greg Sterling

March 18, 2019

Survey: Only 36% of SMBs Have an ‘SEO Strategy’

Despite the waning visibility of organic content, SEO is arguably more important than ever. The vast majority of search clicks occur on organic links/content. Yet, according to a survey from Clutch, only 36% of small businesses (SMBs) have an SEO strategy — though an additional 38% say they plan to in the future. Clutch uses the SBA’s…

Contributed by: Greg Sterling

March 13, 2019

Study: Online + Offline Media Delivers Better ROI than Either Alone

For brands, retailers and small businesses that fulfill offline or through stores, traditional media is often more trusted but digital marketing offers more precision and “accountability.” However, there’s also fraud and waste in digital. A new “ROI Genome” report from Analytic Partners discusses, among other findings, the relative ROI of online and offline advertising. The study…

Contributed by: Greg Sterling

March 12, 2019

Assessing the Commercial Search Potential of Smart Speakers

There are more than 130 million smart speakers (and displays) in US homes, according to a new survey from Voicebot.ai. But search and e-commerce are not common use cases. The potential remains, however. The report argues there are about 66 million smart speaker owners in the United States and over 130 million such devices in American households….

Contributed by: Greg Sterling

March 11, 2019

Waze and McDonald’s Connect OOH, In-Car Ads with Geofencing

Google’s Waze and McDonald’s teamed up last October to coordinate out-of-home (OOH) billboards and in-car advertising. The two geofenced roughly 300 billboards in Southern California and served Waze “zero-speed takeover” ads to drivers within proximity of the OOH placements. These units only appear when the car has come to a complete stop. The ads included a…

Contributed by: Greg Sterling

March 7, 2019

Voice Will Soon Be the Primary UI for Mobile Search

Voice is becoming the preferred way to interact with and control mobile devices. That’s according to a recent study from Stone Temple/Perficient Digital. The survey asked just over 1,700 US adults about their attitudes and behavior in connection with voice on mobile devices and virtual assistants. As a basic matter, the survey found that people were…

Contributed by: Greg Sterling

March 6, 2019

Yelp’s Richard Now LSA Board Chairperson, Microsoft’s Nojaim Elected Vice-Chair

Last week LSA held its Annual General Meeting at the LSA19 conference. The organization re-elected board members and announced new officers. Yelp Senior Vice President of Business & Corporate Development Chad Richard was elevated to LSA Board Chair; Kelly Thomas Nojaim of Microsoft became Vice-Chair and Sharon Sweeney of the Fairway Group was elected Secretary….

Contributed by: Greg Sterling

March 6, 2019

Millennial Business Owners Advertise More, in More Channels

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One of the most interesting sessions at LSA19 was the discussion by Sandy Lohr, CEO of Matchcraft, about how Millennial business owners are different and the need to change selling tactics to reach them. A new survey of US small businesses from Clutch/The Manifest partly echoes that in suggesting they’re more ad-friendly than earlier generations of business owners. Millennial-owned/managed businesses (95%) were…

Contributed by: Greg Sterling

March 4, 2019

Can Tesla Sell Cars without Physical Showrooms?

Tesla announced that it was closing its showrooms/stores to realize cost savings to support the new lower-priced Model 3. As a consequence it’s going to sell cars online — exclusively. While there have been some car sales over the internet in the past, especially used-cars, there has never been a major car company that has attempted…

Contributed by: Greg Sterling

February 22, 2019

Location & Data Privacy @LSA19

Privacy is the biggest issue marketers don’t want to face – but must. On January 1, 2020 the California Consumer Privacy Act will take effect, which will impact privacy and data rules for almost everyone attending LSA19. Beyond this, there are other state laws that may go further (e.g., Washington Privacy Act). It’s also unlikely…

Contributed by: Greg Sterling